The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-08-06
ABNORMAL APPETITE.
How Young Animals Acquire q Taste for
All Sorts of Uncleun Thin g.

~" WV III" "ssl"hhO -
All Sorts Of Unclean g.
Unnatural methods Of rearing young
animals pervert the whole digestive
system to such an extent that many
never fully recover either the power OF
digestion or the faculty Of selecting
proper food, which is so generally be-
lieved to b, an Unborn instinct of the
brute creation. and makes them life
long victims Of dyspeptic cravings
which they are neve able to satisfy.
l am convinced that the disgusting de-
sire for all sorts of unciean things
(old bones. old boot-tops which did
service in cleaning stables all winter,
and old tioor-plank saturated with
manure till worn out and %decayed, is
due to the cause above indicated. My
attention was directed to this subject
years ago. and it has been one Of
abiding interest to me. found many
cases where the feeding of bran or
bone meal apparently lead to a cure,
and this was held to prove the general
correctness of the popular theory that
it was the result Of lack of phosphates
in the foot. But such cases are al
most invariably affected favorably by
any change of food, and corn-meal
has been known to have the same effect
in other similar cases. | have never
found evidence in favor of the phos.
plate theory which is not stronger in
favor Of the theory of impaired diges-
ton.
The calf begins to chew the cud al
most as soon as it is born; in a great
many cases before it is three days old.
The natural food of the young calf is
its mothers milk, and it is able to di-
gest that in the mllk-stomach without
other preparation than comes with the
act of sucking. But all other food
needs the same preparation in the
mouth and other organs Of digestion in
the young calf that it does in the aged
COW. l have never been able to dis
cover evidence that cooking in any
way improves food for calves, and
when it is male up in the popular
form of the day into porridge, cruel or
other drinkable connection, it is not
only nnprcpared, but it is untitled for
digestion. Bat the largest part OF the
calves of the country arc raised on
this prepared food. Some of them
have hay or grass, which to some ex-
tent mitigates the evil. Some are kept
in most filthy quarters with nothing to
exercise their jaws upon but fence
boards and the edges Of their sour
swill-troughs. They such the ears OF
their mates and in that way keep up n
partial flow of saliva, and sometimes
in their desperation they chew them
into masses of fostering sores. Per-
haps it would not be quite true to say
that all the bone-chcwers and their
afflicted mates are legitimate products
of some such system of rearing calves.
But we occasionally run upon a man
who raises extra fine calves which are
V troubled with scours or any OF
the common ailments. No calf of lis
ever gets any thing to drink but plain
skim-milk and clear, clean water. He
feeds dry hay literally and dry grain
sparingly, but increases the grain "a
tions as the animal develops. Begin.
ming with bran. middlings or oats as
soon as the calf will take it he in.
creascs the quantity without material
change of quality for his c~ow-calves.
But the stcer-calves. whether intended
for early or later slaughter, get heavier
food ust as fast as they are able to
bear it. The changes are always so
gradual as not to disturb the digestion
and every ounce he gains he holds.
He does not hesitate to feed linsccd
meal or cotton-secd meal rs he sees
occasion, but he always extends it
very largely with the coarsest bran in
the market. In short, he adapts all
his feeds in n manner to compel the
exercise of every organ of digestion
to the largest possible extent, but he
never puts upon IL organ the Office
of another. His calves do not acquire
bad habits and lone Of them have ever
been known to chew bones or fence
boards. S. Bliss, IN ~ Y. Tribune.
POINTS FOR LADIES'.